Invisible influence

Jill Donahue

March 22, 2017

“Social influence is as silent as it is powerful.”

– Invisible Influence, page 231

Think about where you ate for lunch, or what drink you ordered on the airplane. Or maybe something bigger, like who you dated, married or voted for. It all had to do with your personal tastes, judgements and preferences – right? You would be wrong. Actually, your choice had more to do with what others did or didn’t do.

Social influence, Jonah Berger teaches us, impacts our decisions, without us even realizing it. Other people are constantly influencing what we think, buy, and do, as well as whether we are driven to work hard or hardly work!

Want to be more influential? Make better decisions? Motivate yourself and others? This book is for you. In the five chapters Berger explores:

Our human tendency to imitate – why people follow others even when they know the answer is wrong

Our drive for differentiation – why some people want to stand out, while others are happier blending in

How the competing tendencies above are determined in part by who the other are

The tension between familiarity and novelty and the value of being distinct

How social influence shapes motivation – both positively and negatively

By understanding social influence you can harness its power and improve our own life and the lives of others.

Read my summary of top ideas from this book here http://www.actionablebooks.com/en-ca/summaries/invisible-influence-3/